Author's Note:
What's up everyone! With the whole world under quarantine and in shambles, I think it's a good time to start a story. [For those who have read my Halo fanfic… I've hit a writer's block and I just wanted to write something else for a little while… BUT WHO IS EXCITED FOR HALO INFINITE LATER THIS YEAR!] Anywho! I hope you all enjoy, I'm a little fresh on my narrative writing so pleeeease go easy on me OR let me know what is wacky and I'll try to fix it. Disclaimer: It is NOT an easy task switching from scientific to narrative writing.
Before jumping into the story, I just want to make it clear that I in NO way own any of the characters or the concepts from Sword Art Online. Also, there will be a lot of OC however, I will try to stay true to the personalities of the characters as well as the overall concept of the original story. One of the main timeline aspects I did change was the operational period of Laughing Coffin, in this story they began to terrorize innocent players earlier on than in the canon.
Thx for reading :Dx
[M Rating: adult situations, violence, and language]
Chapter One
When life presents a difficult circumstance, the obvious answers are to either accept or deny. However sometimes, there is a third option- to break the system that made the circumstance in the first place.
Months had passed since the nightmare of Sword Art Online began where ten thousand people were trapped in the virtual world, Aincrad. Over two thousand players had lost their lives to the death game. However, hope sprung as players began clearing floors and moving up towards the Ruby Palace. These individuals banded together forming an elite group known as the assault team, where their entire purpose was to continue fighting on the frontlines till the end. On the day October seventh, 2023, the forty-seventh floor was unlocked.
One of the most imperative members of the assault team and the second-in-command of the elite guild, the Knights of the Blood Oath was Lightning-Flash Asuna. Stepping off the warp pedestal, she took in the newly unlocked floor. It was one of the more beautiful floors she had ever seen. Flowers spanned the entire field of vision and the smell was intoxicating with sweet fragrance.
"Excellent job," The Commander of her guild, Heathcliff, stated from beside her before trekking forward and down the staircase.
She watched him for a moment before her attention was drawn to the heath bar and level at the lop left of her vision. During the boss raid, she had leveled up to sixty-three and continued to excel as one of the games strongest forward players.
"Hey Asuna," A guild member, Thanatos, called. She looked over at him as he made his way to the stair above her, "That was fucking awesome what you did back there," he complemented with a huge smile.
She nodded slowly as a small smile pulled at the edges of her lips, "Thanks," she replied before continuing to walk down the staircase. A deep sigh left her lips as she tried to calm herself down from the battle, but she could still feel her adrenaline pumping. For six months she had been part of the Knights of the Blood Oath, in the beginning when she joined, she quickly propelled herself to a pivotal leader position in guild. She had taken her first experience of being in a party to heart and all the sudden she was within the strongest guild in the game and their second-in-command.
"Hey Asuna," Thanatos cooed from behind her and from the tone she could tell his intentions, "Would you want to walk around together?" He asked with a slight flush crossing his cheeks. Asuna looked up at him and began to think, he was one of the strongest offensive players they had in their guild, and they were paired together as forwards. He was tall, built, with blond hair and crystal blue eyes. Asuna had to admit to herself, he was attractive but adding a relationship to anything more than just teammates would complicate things.
But then again she she didn't mind just walking around with him. Asuna bit her lip lightly looking around the new floor, "sure," she hesitantly said, and the man smiled taking a step closer to her.
They wandered around the city and courtyards for hours, just looking at all the different kinds of flowers and talking. There were so many kinds that she found it hard to keep track how many different species there actually were. Asuna looked out the massive arch that would lead away from the safe-zone and again flowers spanned the entire length of the horizon.
"On to the next, huh," Thanatos said from behind her.
"Yeah but first," she said yawning and stretching her arms out widely, "I need to go do something else for a day."
The man chuckled, "Ture we did work our asses off to level up and train to get here. I can't believe it's almost been a year and we've only made it to floor forty-seven. I thought we would have made it further by now," he frowns leaning against the massive pillar next to the arch.
"Yeah and the floors are only going to get harder from here," Asuna whispered running a hand through her auburn hair. A cool breeze brushed across the sea of flowers, blowing the fragrance as it rushed past them. Asuna shut her eyes for a moment, just allowing the air to brush across her skin. Breaking her from the trance, a pair of footsteps caught her attention and her head glanced back to see a familiar face. "Kirito," she whispered.
The Black Swordsman was what the in-game newspapers called him he was a solo-player, dressed in all black, who fought on the frontlines with the assault team. Interestingly enough, Asuna and Kirito had history together and were in the same party during the first boss raid on floor one.
"You're suicidal for going out there solo," Thanatos muttered closing his eyes, leaning back.
"No, I'm just more confident in my abilities than you are of yours," Kirito retorted trekking past them heading out into uncharted territory. Asuna bit her lip at his response, it was a witty comment. It not only took a shot at his skills but also there was something else laced within the remark.
Thanatos' eyes snapped open at the insult, "You got quite a sharp tongue kid, watch who you're talking too."
Internally, Asuna deeply sighed bored, this was not my plan for the day, she thought to herself watching the tension form between them. The Black Swordsman stopped in his tracks, "I know exactly who I'm talking to and I'm not seeing much," Kirito snapped turning back towards him.
"Let's just take it down a notch, I'm exhausted," Asuna yawned. "Thanatos let's just get going okay?" Asuna said walking up to him and pulling the fabric of his iridescent white and red cloak back towards the city. Reluctantly, he followed her suggestion and both of them started heading back towards the center of the city.
"Hey Asuna," she heard Kirito call her from a few yards away.
She turned to him, "What?"
"You look good," he said with a sly smile before turning and walking away.
Asuna glanced at Thanatos' fist clench shut and suddenly he stormed after him, "Hey Thanatos wait!" Asuna called, jogging after him. "This isn't a good idea! Hey!" She demanded grabbing his shoulder and trying to turn him towards her. "He's a higher level than both of us, just let it go," Asuna begged.
"Fuck that," he muttered to her before rising his voice, "yo kid- you have quite a fucked attitude, show some goddamn respect for the person who set up that entire fucking raid," Thanatos demanded gesturing towards Asuna, " but I guess the contempt is to be expected from a piece of shit beater like yourself."
An annoyed distressed look covered Asuna's face as she rubbed her forehead before her eyes were captured by Kirito's, "Come on Asuna, you're settling for that," he chuckled pointing at Thanatos.
"Why are you doing this?" Asuna asked him seriously.
"I just thought you had higher standards and judgement of character is all," he shrugged.
His insult stung and a frown of disappointment covered her face and suddenly Kirito's reaction reflected hers. Asuna gritted her teeth replying, "look, I don't know what I did to make you so pissed at me that you're willing to pick a fight with my friend and insult me-"
"Wait Asuna-" Kirito tried to say.
"I really just want to go," Asuna muttered to Thanatos turning and walking away. What is his problem? Why is he being such an asshole? Asuna thought to herself, she'd had dinner with him before and he was a complete gentleman. Suddenly, she felt a hand snag her wrist quickly turning her around.
"Asuna, I'm-" Kirito started to say.
"Back the fuck off man, you're done," Thanatos said grabbing Kirito's hand shoving it off the woman's wrist before placing his hand on his sword.
"Thanatos," Asuna sharply demanded, "Why don't you head back to the town center and I'll meet you there okay?"
Thanatos looked at her as if she had three heads, "What? I'm not going to leave you here with this creep-"
"As Second-in-Command of the Knights of the Blood Oath I am ordering you to return to the town center," she insisted pulling rank on him, instantly his facial expression went stoic.
Asuna heard him grit his teeth before replying, "Yes ma'am," he said reluctantly before storming back down the main street.
"You better have a good explanation for your attitude," Asuna snapped folding her arms over her chest before locking with Kirito's eye contact.
"Wow you made him disappear so quick," Kirito dryly laughed rubbing the back of his neck, immediately fleeing from her stern gaze.
Asuna internally sighed, there, was the guy that she had talked to in the past. But the words that he said earlier enter back into her mind and she shakes her head, "Alright that's it I'm leaving," she snapped turning on her heel and storming away.
"Wait Asuna please," Kirito pleaded grabbing her forearm, "I'm sorry, it's just I can't take that kind of insult. I had to say something back-"
"That doesn't mean you have to drag my judgement through the mud," she fired back not amused by his response.
Kirito sighed and nodded, "I'm sorry, I don't know why I even thought it was a good idea to think that let alone say what I did," he said with his eyes finally connecting with hers.
Asuna watched him step closer and heat rushed to her cheeks, before she backed away, "Well… apology not accepted," she muttered turning her head stubbornly away from him.
"Can I take you to dinner somewhere in town as a further apology," he proposed as his hand gently tightened around her forearm.
A deep red and heat rushed across Asuna's cheeks as she actually considered his offer, she was hungry and maybe they could talk, but then again, her reputation. Her eyes glanced down at his thumb rubbing small circles on her skin. She wanted to shake her head to brush off the emotion she was feeling but she was almost frozen in thought. Why is he doing this now? She asked herself as she evaluated their closeness. "I don't know if that is such a good idea," she finally said slipping her arm from his grasp, "But um, okay," she said without thinking and she watched a small smile pull at Kirito's lips.
"Awesome, are you hungry now?" He asked.
Before she could answer, a message icon appeared in the right corner of her field of view. It was from Commander Heathcliff, "Give me one sec," she sighed opening the menu and reading the message:
We are having a mandatory leadership meeting in an hour and a half at Wolfland's Tavern.
Asuna sighed and closed out the message, "I have a meeting to head too in a little while, probably to talk strategy about finding the boss room on this floor. Thanatos and I were just talking about this, but have you noticed the date? In less than a month we will have been in this world for a year."
"Yeah, there are some days where I rarely think about the real world," Kirito whispered as they started to walk around the perimeter of the safe zone. "But I have to admit this is one of the more beautiful floors we've unlocked," he said gazing around the floral city. Asuna peered at her boots as she kicked along a small pebble until she felt Kirito snag her hand. "Look," he whispered pointing off in the distance and something shiny shimmered in the distance.
Asuna enhanced her vision and as she did a weeping willow tree began to sprout from the dirt instantly growing into a massive size, "Wow," she whispered, "It can't be a monster- we are in a safe-zone."
"I think it's activated when you walk past it," Kirito explained as he took a step closer. Along the dirt path he walked, small buds began forming under his footsteps and as Asuna looked down at her feet, small vines with purple flowers wrapped themselves lightly along her feet. Blushing, Asuna gazed up at Kirito's expression and he was in complete awe as he watched the flowers break through the grass and dirt around them.
"I don't know if that's the case," Asuna whispered inhaling the perfume. "I walked past here with Thanatos and none of this appeared," she told him. An overwhelming feeling rushed into her as she noticed the pulsing heart icon in the upper left-hand corner of her vision near her HP gauge. "There is something in the fragrance of these flowers," she muttered feeling the fluttering of her heart.
"Yeah," Kirito whispered before clearing his throat. "We should um… go get some food," he stuttered walking back towards her. "Honestly I think the smell is making me drunk," Kirito laughed, "My vision is not on point."
"Probably because of how close you got to that tree," she giggled.
"Let's be going, before we both get too messed up," he smirked before placing a hand at the small of her back.
"Hey wait," Asuna whined pulling at the brim of his black cloak before she pulled herself to his chest. "We don't really have to go," she said into his chest, muffled.
"A-Asuna," he stuttered pulling his hands away from her, "you're not thinking clearly." Kirito looked down at the girl rubbing her cheek against his shirt. Her cheeks were flushed with her eyes lightly closed as she began feeling the fabric of his clothes. Kirito bit his lip looking down at Asuna's face and as inappropriate thoughts entered his mind, he was certain he wasn't sober either. He noticed the pulsing heart icon in the upper left-hand corner near his HP gauge and he mentally agreed with Asuna that there was something in the fragrance of the flowers. Kirito was shocked as Asuna kissed him desperately and involuntarily his arms wrapped around her frame- pulling her closer. After they broke apart, Kirito's eyes fluttered shut before he rested his cheek against the top of her head with his arms comfortably wrapped around the figure in front of him. He could feel the sensation of vines wrapping themselves around their legs as an exhaustion flooded through his body as he lost consciousness.